Spy Stud Crocker V Craggy Crocker

Fans of Greg Rucka's Queen & Country series may recognize the following drawing as being a young and then old version of Paul Crocker, the lovable, crotchety grouch of a boss to Tara Chace: super spy. Do yourselves a favor and read this series (don't forget the novels--they're excellent).

I always like drawing Crocker, especially the young version, as Q&C: Declassified (which starred the younger, fresher Crocker) was the first book in which I inked my own work. And it shows. I think I was much improved by the third issue but the whole series was quite a learning experience. I had a blast with doing the book from a fanboy point of view as well--I'm a Cold War kid who is nostalgic for those halcyon days of looming nuclear annihalation. Simple times. So drawing the obligatory crossing from East Berlin to West Berlin and the cat and mouse games behind the Iron Curtain was a lot of fun. Plus, drawing European architecture is so much more fun than modern buildings. Fun fact: In issue 2 of this series Crocker can be seen wearing a Member's Only jacket. Rock star.

The following sketch was my original intent for the drawing but I was disappointed with how static it looked and I also wasn't able to incorporate the different environs the way I wanted to.